Campbell is in the Shadows
GLEN AUSTIN - The announcement that the South African Shadows Club - Gauteng has been launched has been met with a flurry of enthusiasm from the Midrand community, and Harry Campbell is excited to open the club in this province.
The club gives musicians of all levels an outlet to play songs by the Shadows and Cliff Richard in a band to a live audience. Campbell was an instant fan of the Shadows from his schoolboy days, so when he learned about the clubs from his brother in Dublin, he immediately wanted to become a member of the club and share in the :secrets of how to get that magic sound.
Campbell said, “There are established Shadows clubs all over the world, and every year in England some of the original Shadow members host and play at an event called the Shadowmania. A lot of the musicians who belong to these Shadows clubs go to Shadowmania to see their heroes in action and get to chat with them.”
So, when Campbell returned to Cape Town, he went about starting the club. That was six years ago, and right from the first meeting it was a success after enough musicians to make up eight bands turned up.
“Let me say that most of the guys who played that night only met each other for the first time at the meeting, a few knew of each other from their band days and most were very rusty but very eager, and some were real hot shot players,” said Campbell.
He said the clubs grew a substantial fan-base too.
Campbell’s decision to launch a Gauteng club comes after he moved to Midrand to be closer to his musical sons and grandchildren. He sports an impressive musical career and has been seen on many stages from playing in bars and at gigs to playing the bass for top country vocal band, the Rocking Horse and for the Blarney Brothers.
He invited all musicians to join his latest Shadow club offering at Liedjieboer in Glen Austin on 11 March from 7.30pm to 10pm.
Details: Harry Campbell, harry@harrymusic,.co.za
